Sting Factor: Roderick Daniels decommits from Baylor
When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from 1-10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
MORE STING: Byron Murphy flips from Baylor to Texas
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CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
COVERAGE: Rivals Transfer Tracker | Rivals Camp Series
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THE STORYLINE
Roderick Daniels committed to Baylor in May and gave first-year coach Dave Aranda and his staff an electric slot receiver for the Bears’ offense. It was a big commitment since Daniels had 26 offers and he was an in-state prospect from a power program at Duncanville.
But only a few weeks before the early signing period, Daniels announced in recent days that he was backing off his pledge to Baylor and would reopen his recruitment. The sense now is that SMU could be the team to beat for the three-star receiver, but others might join the fray as well.
It’s been a rough month for Baylor on the recruiting trail as a once-impressive wide receiver class has lost two significant pieces in Daniels and three-star Hal Presley, who has since committed to Auburn. The Bears also lost a pledge from three-star defensive tackle Byron Murphy, who flipped to Texas.
Baylor’s offense is ninth in the Big 12 in yardage and that could be one reason why some talented receivers have backed off their pledges. A spark on the recruiting trail would be big heading into the early period.
LOCAL REACTION
It's been a string of tough news for Baylor's coaching staff to endure recently. The loss of Daniels, possibly to SMU, is another blow for the offense and erodes what once was a dynamic wide receiver class. Baylor loses not only a sure-handed receiver out of the slot, it likely misses an option in the return game. Every offense needs a receiver who can work in space. Daniels fit that perfectly. Now, Aranda's staff has to start over. - Kevin Lonnquist, SicEmSports.com
Sting factor: 8
NATIONAL REACTION
“Ok, this is starting to get ugly for Baylor as they are losing too many players in this class. Daniels was arguably the best receiver they had and his ability as a return man was coveted. To potentially lose him to a Group of Five school is bad optics.” — Mike Farrell, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director.
Sting factor: 9